Before Lane could finish her speech the garage door opened and Meg Kelly’s two year old daughter, Abbey, came running into the family room followed closely by Jake and Meg.  Abbey ran to Lane and crawled into her lap.

Lane looked up. “Jake, Meg, have you met Detective McGuire? I’m afraid he was just leaving. Jake would you please walk him out?  Good-bye, Detective,” Lane said, as she turned away from Mick and busied herself talking with Abbey.

Jake, who was six feet four inches tall and weighed a well-muscled 200 pounds, stood by the sofa, waiting for Mick to stand and then walked him to the front door.

As Mick walked to his car, Jamie pulled into his garage stall.  Neither one acknowledged the other.

Jamie carried the pizzas into the house and put them on the breakfast bar.  Jake followed him into the kitchen.  He was wondering what was going on.  First, Jandy had called and invited him for pizza.  Then, Mom had him escort a guest to the door.  He couldn’t remember his mother ever using that icy tone to a guest in their home. “So who’s Detective McGuire and what was he doing here,” Jake asked his brother.

“He’s supposed to be a friend of Ben’s, but if you saw the way he looks at Mom, you’d know what he was really doing was putting moves on her.  What happened?”

Jake shook his head.  “That’s why you called isn’t it?  Whatever happened, it was over before we got here.  Mom introduced him and had me walk him out.  I don’t think he’ll be back.  Mom was talking in that quiet mad tone when we came in.”

“Good, I didn’t trust him the first time I met him, when he came with Ben, and I sure didn’t like that he was here without Ben tonight.  Something’s going on.  I’ll call Jess later.”

Lane had lifted Abbey and carried her as she walked into the kitchen.  “Do we have enough pizza for everyone?”  She and Abbey sat on a counter chair and watched as Meg and the boys gathered plates and silverware.

The boys looked at each other and laughed.  There were two large pizzas and wings.  As usual, there was enough to feed a small army.

Chapter 6

Off the merry go round

Jess was 20 years old and had been thrust into the white hot spotlight.  It was what every actor dreamed of, the opportunity of a lifetime.  The announcement that she’d won the roles of Kate and Kit Hart had been made in the trades three weeks ago and she’d had a personal appearance every day, sometimes appearing as a guest on a morning talk show and a night time show (which by the way were filmed in the afternoon) on the same day.

Jess was five feet four inches tall, had blonde hair and big blue eyes with unnaturally long eyelashes.  She’d been in Kansas visiting when she’d gotten the call about the audition.  It was a starring role and an opportunity she couldn’t pass up, so she’d cut short her visit and returned to L.A.  It was the right thing to do, especially since she’d gotten the role.  But what is it they say?  Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.

She’d gotten it all right, and she really wasn’t complaining.  Except now there was some weirdo leaving presents for her outside her condo.  For the last week, every time she’d come home from an appearance there was something left by her door with either the name Kit or Kate Hart on it.  So apparently there were fans who were already seeing her as the twins.  Her agent thought it was a good thing, but her agent was a 45 year old man and he wasn’t the one coming home alone at one o’clock in the morning to find little love letters or hate letters addressed to him.

The producers had given a dinner party as a way for the cast and crew to get to know each other.  They’d sent a car service to take her to and from the party.  It had been a long day and she was tired as she climbed into the back of the limo to find a note addressed to Kit.  Why did fans sign things “your greatest fan” or “your most devoted fan.”  For crying out loud, she thought as she opened it.  Maybe opening it was her first mistake.  “You’re the mean selfish sister.  You don’t deserve Prince Augustus.”  Oh for God’s sake, it’s a book, I’m not Kate or Kit and whoever this is needs to get a life.

She laid her head back and tried to relax as the Limo made its way to her condo near the UCLA campus.  She knew it was going to be a two hour ride and it would be 3:00 a.m. before she got home.  She had an early morning tomorrow doing an appearance on a local L.A. morning talk show.

To her surprise, she’d fallen asleep in the limo and the driver woke her when they’d arrived at her condo.  She walked in barefoot, carrying her Loubouton Carlota shoes.  Ben had bribed her with them last summer.  The bribe was to be nice to some idiot who thought she should be falling all over him.  Well not be nice exactly, it was more a bribe not to kill the guy. She smiled.  She’d gotten some of her most favorite shoes from her mother’s boyfriend.  She’d told him several years ago that anyone wanting to get next to her mother had to deliver three pairs of very specific shoes.   He’d sent them to her as an announcement when he started dating her mother.  They were shoes that weren’t even made any more.  How Ben had gotten them, she didn’t know, but they were lovely.  Each with platforms and a five inch heel; one pair in Black, one pair in Red, and one pair in Electric Blue, all handmade in Italy.

She dropped her shoes in the living room and went straight to bed.  The next morning, she rushed around getting ready, making it to the interview with only seconds to spare.  It was another round of questions about her eyelashes.

“No, they really are mine,” she said as she tugged at them.  “My brother has eyelashes just like them, but we don’t put mascara on his,” she said and laughed.  It was true, her older brother Jake and she both had eyelashes to die for.

She finished the interview and went home.  It was nearly four o’clock in the afternoon, but finally, she’d be able to rest for a while.  There was nothing more going on for the rest of the week.

When she got home, the door to her condo was slightly ajar.  She cautiously made her way in, looking around as she made her way toward the bedroom.  Something was wrong.  Her closet door was open and she knew she’d closed it.  There was a note on her bed addressed to Kit Hart.  She left it where it lay against her pillows, grabbed a Louisville Slugger from under her bed and her gun from her nightstand.  She went into the master bathroom and locked the door.  She climbed into the bathtub and dialed the phone.

“Jams.  Hi.  How are things,” she said far more calmly that she felt.

“Hey, Sis.  How are things in L.A. now that you’re a big star,” Jamie responded.

“I have a stalker.  And someone’s been in my condo.  Other than that, everything’s great.”

“Let me make the call,” he said.

Chapter 7

Truce?

There was a recess and Ben had found a corner where he could stand without the press or anyone else bothering him.  His cell phone buzzed.  He looked at the caller id.

“Bambino.  What’s up?”  He had called Lane’s youngest son, Jamie, Bambino since their first meeting.  Back then, Jamie had been 14 and was tall, gangly, and awkward and seemed to be feeling lost after the move to Kansas.  It was Ben’s way of helping him through the transition and the nickname had just stuck.

“I’m sorry to bother you.  I know you and Mom are having a time out.  Jess called me from L.A.  She’s in trouble.  There’s some nutcase fan stalking her.”

Ben looked at his watch.  He needed to be back in the courtroom in about five minutes.  “Don’t worry, Bambino, I’ll handle it.”

The Parker kids had been calling Ben with their problems since just weeks after their move from Nebraska.  His response was always the same.  “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.” And he always did.  Jake had been the first to need Ben’s help.  Jake was a student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.  He’d been out with friends.  He was driving and they’d been pulled over. One of the idiots in the truck had an open container of beer.  They’d all been hauled in.  Jake had used his phone call and called Ben.  The Lawrence police were surprised when one the best criminal defense attorneys in Kansas City had walked in.  Ben talked to everyone and got the charges against Jake dropped.